Monday, November 25, 2013

Finally - Inaluxe for Me!!!

I started my new job this past Monday and I've been settling in.  Part of that process includes deciding how I want to decorate my office.  I am told I may or may not have access to an art allowance, but there was a sale on Inaluxe prints through easyart.com so I jumped on it.  I had also searched around Etsy for other unique prints, but with the sale, it didn't make sense to order any alternatives, especially since I've been obsessing over these beautiful colorful prints for a long time! It was really hard to chose, but here is a preview of what I purchased:  




I'll still need to look into framing these lovelies, but I'll worry about that later.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Wheels on the Bus

For those of you out there with toddlers, you know how much the little ones love how the "Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round".  Inspired by Baby CP, I printed these double-decker notecards and notebooks. Yes, he gave me the thumbs up when he saw the finished product.  =)
Double Decker Notebook


Double Decker Notecards


Thursday, October 17, 2013

News!

So, as some of you know, I'm moving on...I've given notice at my current job and will be starting a new position in mid-November.  I'll have additional time to spend on new designs over the next few weeks (perfect timing for the upcoming holidays) and a trip to NY to see family and friends.  Yay!

Last weekend, I realized that my herringbone thank you cards are just about out of stock.  (I only have a couple left.)  So, I decided to print a new batch in a fall colorway.  I also used the same design in a super small batch of birthday cards.
Thank You in Avocado Green and Dark Brown
The screen I had originally used to print the original yellow and turquoise thank you cards seemed to be a little clogged and I was having trouble printing a nice clean print, so I decided to test out my new thermofax with 100 mesh screen.  The print came out on linen cardstock nicely!
Happy Birthday in Avocado Green and Navy
Next up, I'll be using the thermofax to burn some 70 mesh screen and try my hand at some fabric printing!

As a side note, I'm still working on figuring out lighting for my photos...I've been trying to photograph all of my cards with the same background so that my shop has a more uniform look, but getting good lighting in our house is a little challenging.  I'd like the whites to show up a little brighter.  Mr. CP recently built a light box and bought some lamps, so experimenting with that is also a new project out there on the horizon.

Monday, September 9, 2013

New Cards in the Shop

Hi there.  As usual, long weekends seem to be when I get most of my Chunky Pineapple work done.  I spent some time over Labor Day weekend working on some new ideas.  A few of the new designs involve burning out blocks of solid screen, which is tricky on the Gocco, and requires ink of just the right consistency.  Below are the first two of our new sweet and simple designs.
I Like You

I'm Sorry

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Getting Your Name Out There

Today I received a custom order request through Etsy.  This is a new feature that I just signed up for a few days ago.  The customer asked whether she could buy 5 of the same Thanks So Much card.  Of course I was excited to get my first custom order, and responded right away.  The customer's response was that she had found my card at Press Works on Paper and wanted more to thank interviewers for their time and looked on the back of the card where our logo and website are located.

While putting the logo on the back of my cards wasn't the first thing I thought of when designing cards and starting my shop, I did design a logo by the time I designed my second or third card.  I later updated my logo after I had Dingbat Press create a logo and business card for the shop.  I'm glad to get confirmation that it helps to get my name out there and that people actually do look at the back of my cards to find us.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Holy Moly - My 3M Thermofax is on it's way!

Yes, I love my Gocco, but sometimes I want a more consistent screen burn or yearn for a larger printing area.  I have invested in a 3M Thermofax machine and it could be in my hands as soon as tomorrow!!!  A Thermofax machine is an old school predecessor to the copy machine.  Copy machines were more reliable for making copies, so these machines were cast aside, often stored in closets and storage rooms for years.  They are now super popular with tattoo artists for creating stencils and for screen printers which has driven the price up on these vintage machines, but they're built like tanks and should last a long time.

The Thermofax, like the Gocco, burns carbon based images onto mesh screen, but does not use flash bulbs that much be discarded after each flash.  The per screen cost should be much lower than that of a Gocco, though eventually the Thermofax's bulb also needs to be replaced.  I believe that the image size can be as large as 8x11 or something close to that, so it's about double the size of a Gocco B6 size image which opens the door to a lot of new possibilities - larger format prints and maybe t-shirts or tote bags with larger images.  Any water based silkscreening ink, which is cheaper than Gocco inks can be used.  Finally, the screens can be cut and mounted onto frames that can be inserted into the Gocco machines or you can use the squeegee method which is sort of leaving the Gocco world behind and entering the more general screenprinting area.

I'm so excited!!  All I need is to find myself a little more time in each day and hopefully I'll be able to come up with new ideas and projects.  =)

Friday, July 12, 2013

Thanks a Million

Baby CP just turned two and celebrated with a much smaller get together this year than last.  Regardless, it was the perfect reason to design and print these new Marquee Light Thank You cards. I'm not sure if I was foiled by old batteries or bad screens, but it took a few attempts at burning the screen to get it just right.


I'm thinking a Yippee or Yay card in the same style would work really well.

Happy Birthday with Confetti

Long weekends tend to be the times when I print new designs and the 4-day July 4th weekend was no exception.  I wanted to design a new birthday card and thought confetti would add a nice touch.  It was a bit difficult to work with the designs because they were so spread out all over the screen.  The gold came out really well, and the blue has that vintage Gocco touch.

Confetti Birthday Card
 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Father's Day 2013

Great news! I received a wholesale order 2 weeks ago from a local shop called Press Works on Paper right here in the Mission.  A good portion of the order was for Father's Day cards and I didn't have enough in stock, so I mixed a beautiful dark metallic blue color to print a new batch.  Unfortuantely the metallic shimmer doesn't show up very well in these photos.  I printed on my more popular cardstock colors, yellow, orange, white and gray. 

Monday, May 6, 2013

Hey Good Lookin'

I was in a funny kind of mood the other day and wanted to create another card in the same style as my Thanks So Much Card - focusing on color and words rather than graphics.  For some reason, I had a flashback to a scene in a Ghostbusters cartoon where Slimer the ghost was cooking something in the kitchen and singing to himself.  I know...totally random...The song is a country song by Hank Williams, so I started with a western style font.
I love how this came out - I particularly like how the purple pops out against the gray.

The Stargazer

I like how this card makes you feel like you're walking into the middle of a scene.  You have a telescope for a stargazer on one side and you have the stars that he would be admiring on the other - quiet, peaceful and awe-inspiring. 


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Mother's Day 2013

I created a pretty floral design and used it both for a Mother's Day card and for a general greeting card.  The floral design runs over to the back of the Mother's Day card which is a little unique feature.  Unfortunately, it took me forever to get these designs up in our shop and Mother's Day is only a week away!  If you haven't found the right card for your mom yet, if you order soon you might still make it!


Friday, April 12, 2013

New Bicycle Items

In anticipation of our appearance at A Fair of the Hear this Saturday, I've been working on a few new items.  Below are a couple non-card items - our popular bicycle print on moleskine journals and plastic gift tags


I have also designed and printed three new cards that I'm excited to share.  I'll be posting about them as soon as photos are taken.  Hopefully they'll be a hit at the craft fair. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Powder Coated Pegboard

I was checking out a local shop when I saw these lovely powder coated pegboards which were used to display a variety of items.  I like that you can hang things and use magnets to display items as well.  I think I'll invest in one of two of these because not only would they help me organize some of my crafting items, they'd also make a very cool background for photographing cards with pretty magnets.  They can be purchased at Crate and Barrel in a couple different sizes.

Monday, April 8, 2013

A Fair of the Heart - April 13

This coming Saturday, April 13, Chunky Pineapple will be setting up and selling cards at A Fair of the Heart at Irvington High School in Fremont.  Stop by and say hi!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I Apparently Can't Get Enough Jane Austen

I am a sucker for period piece movies.  Pride and Prejudice is certainly a favorite...whether it be the BBC version or the Keira Knightly version (though the latter had to fit into regular movie length so at times it seemed a bit rushed).  Jane Eyre is probably the only book I have ever read twice, and once I knew that the Michael Fassbender version had been released, I had to see it.  Last night I found on Netflix streaming a BBC 4-episode mini-series of Emma.  I never read Emma, but I remembered enjoying the Gwenyth Paltrow version back in the day.  (It's hard to believe that was over a decade ago.)  I started at about 11pm and thought I would just watch the first episode and go to bed.  Of course I could not help it and ended up watching all 3 hours and 20 minutes in a row and went to bed at 2:30am.  Ouch.  I thought it was well paced and Jonny Lee Miller was quite good as the gentle and handsome Mr. Knightly.  The only thing that bothers me about the story is the act that Frank Churchill had put on.  It doesn't quite make sense to me, and and seemed like simply a forced device Ms. Austen to make Emma look foolish.  There didn't really seem to be a need for him to go so far in his antics.  I wonder whether reading the book would shed any light on this or whether it was more subtle when written.  Regardless, you still feel giddy at the end even though you can tell what is coming from a mile away, as you should...that's why we love these stories after all.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Chunky Pineapple Note Cards

I recently printed these Chunky Pineapple note cards using our logo and sunny yellow ink.  Pineapples are a cute accent and they are a sign of hospitality. 

Don't forget, we're having a flash sale on our site today only - everything will be 40% off if you enter xoxoSFETSY at checkout.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Modern Thank You Cards

I designed these modern thank you cards for Baby CP's first birthday.  The pineapple signature was included on his cards because the theme of his parties was, of course, pineapples.  I just got around to photographing them. 

I changed the colorway for the cards just posted on our site.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

SFEtsy Flash Sale - February 4, 2013!

Happy new year everyone!  I've been a little MIA, but I promise to design and print more this year.  That was my new year's resolution.  To inspire myself (and to make a little more room for new creations), ChunkyPineapple will be participating in the SFEtsy Valentine's Day Flash Sale on Monday, February 4.  For one day only, all items in the store will be a whopping 40% off.   Just enter the code XOXOSFETSY at checkout.  Take a peek at the site today!